Careful. Some of them bite.
At the start of almost every rental DVD in Australia is a 1 minute anti-film piracy ad that goes along the lines of:
“You wouldn’t steal a car…”
“You wouldn’t steal a handbag…”
“Then why steal a movie?…”
It then continues to remind us downloading films is stealing and hurts the local industry. In recent years I might have said “yeah, what industry?”, if we’re honest there have been precious few decent Aussie films released.
In fact in the 18 months since OGR commenced I have reviewed 400 + films, only 5 were Australian made. Of those films one was from the 70s, one from the 80s and one of them was a doco about Australian films in the 70s and 80s! The only two others were horror films were made by the same guy, the first one inspiring me to watch the second.
Hardly a golden era.
Thinking the local industry must have made a few decent films in the last couple of years I trooped off down to the video shop on a mission to find some local produce.
Glad I did.
The Animal Kingdom DVD actually does start with the “you wouldn’t steal” ad…
…then introduces you to a family who absolutely would – and worse.
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When Josh’s Mum ODs in the lounge room he does two things: calls the ambulance and finishes watching Deal or no Deal.
When she doesn’t pull through he finds himself with nowhere to go and moves into the home of his Aunt and cousins: the Cody’s. It is here Josh – or J as he is known – sees a side of life that he was previously shielded from.
The parallels between this film and The Town are a little unavoidable, both focus on small groups of people for which crime is a way of life, but where The Town showed all the heists and robberies in their full glory and added some convenient plot twists and developments, Animal Kingdom plays it straight as a die and doesn’t even pretend to include any glamorous aspects.
Although we hear first hand that Josh’s cousins have been particularly naughty boys we meet Craig, Darren, Andrew and family friend Barry at a time when they are lying especially low. Recent events have seen them targeted by the local police, and even with direct contacts with certain dirty cops it is evident that they aren’t bribing or sneaking their way out of the spotlight at the moment. In fact Andrew or “Pope” (Ben Mendleson) doesn’t pop his head out from hiding until a third of the way through the movie.
Craig makes a healthy living by selling – and using – drugs, Barry is Pope’s best mate, he has decided that perhaps this is all a little too much and he might go straight, and Darren seems to be the black sheep in the family, but begrudgingly involves himself as family is family.
The head of the family is undisputably Janine “Smurf” Cody (Jackie Weaver) who greets all family members with a smile, a kind word and an unfortunate lingering mouth to mouth kiss. Constantly cheerful and positive, Janine holds the family together through tough times and will obviously do anything for her kids…
After another sudden death in the family everyone handles the news in different ways, with Janine making sure they all keep a level head and consider their responses before acting.
A random act of brutal revenge brings with it immediate scrutiny and attention.
Into all this is J and his school-aged girlfriend Nicole, neither want any part of the shenanigans but both become unwitting pawns in all that transpires.
The figurehead of the police task force is Leckie (Guy Pearce), he is level headed and seems fair, but is nonetheless determined to nab the boys. He uses J as a lever, knowing that he is perhaps the most vulnerable and easy to manipulate. Only J wants nothing to do with anything and seems to go further into his introverted shell, giving nothing away and expressing little emotion.
As things continue to heat up Pope exudes menace as he is backed further into a corner, Mendleson perhaps shows Jeremy Renner just how scary a real loose cannon can be by playing Pope as a purposeful man with precious few qualms and the capacity to do anything he deems necessary. At one point he is reminded that perhaps he might consider going back on his “pills”, it doens’t appear that he does so.
The other standout remains Janine, her family first attitude creates extreme circumstances and brings tough decisions that she apparently makes as she absentmindedly dunks a tea bag whilst turmoil swirls around her. It isn’t always sunny in Janine-Land.
Not being intimately involved in even mildly organised crime I am in no position to judge, but I would venture that Animal Kingdom paints a far more realistic picture of the lives of those in this situation than The Town. That isn’t what makes this film superior though, it is cold, immediate and at times a suddenly violent picture of how people with no scruples react when given no real alternative.
An excellent Australian film. No, make that an excellent film.
Final Rating – 8 / 10. Brilliant performances and a driving plot, Animal Kingdom deserves an audience.
